1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to circularly knitted garments. More particularly, the present invention relates to methods and systems for designing circularly knitted garments.
2. Description of Related Art
Circular knitting processes, such as described in commonly owned and assigned U.S. Pat. No. 6,178,781 to Myers, have found wide use in the production of seamless tubular garment blanks. Such seamless tubular garment blanks can be used in the production of a variety of clothing items, such as pantyhose, panties, stockings, brassieres, halter type blouses, figure persuasive underwear, and the like.
It is generally desired for the circularly knitted garments to be provided in a range of sizes that can meet the range of consumer body types, structures, and sizes. In addition, it is also often desired for the circularly knitted garments to include decorative patterns knitted into the garment.
The machines for circularly knitting such garments can be very complex. These machines are controlled by a program or code that must be entered into the machine. The conversion of a garment into this machine code can be very time consuming. This time consuming process is made even greater by the fact that it must be completed for each size of a particular garment. For example, there can be upwards of twelve different sizes for some garments. In this example, the process of converting the garment into the machine code must be repeated for each of the twelve sizes.
Accordingly, continued improvements in the methods of designing circularly knitted garments are desired.